Louisville Courier-Journal:
Obamacare Pushing Toward Mergers
Now the announced sale of Kentucky-based Humana, a health insurance company, reveals yet another pitfall of the law. The sale is the inevitable result of Obamacare's push toward consolidation as doctors, hospitals, and insurers merge in response to an ever-growing government. And the resulting consolidation means less competition among insurers, which could leave consumers with even fewer choices and lower-quality care. (Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 7/15)

Forbes:
Obamacare Was Supposed To Kill Medicare Advantage. It Only Made It Stronger.
Marilyn Tavenner is about to make an unprecedented move: From head of Medicare, to the nation’s top lobbyist for private insurers — in just six months. ... I think there’s a very telling line, buried near the bottom of the Times‘ 798-word story. “Asked about her priorities, Mr. Tavenner said she wanted to protect Medicare Advantage, the program under which private insurers manage care for more than 30 percent of the 55 million beneficiaries of Medicare.” There’s a reason why private insurers care so much about Medicare Advantage: It’s arguably their hottest market right now. While enrollment in employer-sponsored insurance has essentially stagnated, total enrollment in MA plans is expected to double by the end of the decade. (Dan Diamond, 7/15)

The Washington Post's Plum Line:
Republicans Want Their Lawmakers To Keep Resisting Obamacare
A new U.S.A. Today/Suffolk poll finds that in the wake of the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare subsidies a majority of Americans want lawmakers to drop the crusade to repeal the law. But Republicans disagree. ... The fact that a large majority of Republicans want to keep up the fight helps explain why the GOP presidential hopefuls, in the wake of the Court decision, reiterated their commitment to fighting for repeal. (Greg Sargent (7/15)

The Washington Post:
Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’ Is An Important Part Of The Plan So Don’t Mess With It
Thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision reaffirming the legality of its premium subsidies, the Affordable Care Act keeps on rolling along. Millions have affordable coverage which they highly value, the uninsured rate is the lowest on record, and cost containment appears to be working in ways that are helping both households and our fiscal accounts. Of course, the assault on the ACA will continue, and one forthcoming line of attack will be on the excise tax on high-cost premiums, aka, the Cadillac tax (even Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a solid supporter of the ACA, is apparently having second thoughts about the tax). (Jared Bernstein, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal:
Big Brothers Of The Poor
These are inauspicious times for religious liberty, and this week’s illustration is the appeals court decision on Tuesday that instructs an order of Catholic nuns to comply with ObamaCare’s birth-control mandate. A 2-1 majority of a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals panel informs these believers that their moral convictions are wrong on the merits, so shut up and submit. (7/15)

The Washington Post:
Don’t Rush To Judge Planned Parenthood
Video of a secretly-recorded conversation with Planned Parenthood’s medical director has gone viral, starting a new controversy about whether the nation’s largest provider of abortions is profiting from the illegal sale of fetal tissue. Chances are many people — including those who support a woman’s right to choose — who watch Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the group’s senior director of medical research, sip wine and talk casually and graphically about harvesting fetal tissue will squirm. ... But before any conclusions are drawn about lines being crossed, the full, unedited footage should be examined. (JoAnn Armao, 7/15)

The Chicago Tribune:
Planned Parenthood Too Clinical In Its Rebuttal Of Controversial Video
Planned Parenthood needs to speak up. An anti-abortion group released a surreptitiously recorded video Tuesday showing a high-ranking Planned Parenthood official sipping wine and munching salad while casually discussing procuring tissue from aborted fetuses for scientific research. The video, which the anti-abortion group hyperbolically describes as documenting the "sale of baby body parts," lit up the Internet and led several Republican presidential candidates to call for an investigation or for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. (Rex Huppke, 7/15)

Politico:
The Grotesque Business Of Planned Parenthood
In the media, it is relentlessly repeated that abortion is only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s business, as if it’s an afterthought. Nucatola provides the more accurate picture. She talks of how Planned Parenthood performs 40 percent of the abortions in the country and how clinics are stuck with the parts of dead babies (“tissue”) that they have trouble discarding. An organization that exists in large part to perform abortion — about a million every three years — shouldn’t receive a dime in public funding. And the best way to limit the sale of the parts of aborted babies is to save the babies from being aborted in the first place. (Rich Lowry, 7/15)

Los Angeles Times:
Broadening The Health Insurance Umbrella In California Is A Worthy Goal
State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) has long sought to provide health insurance coverage to the multitude of Californians who cannot obtain it because they are in the country illegally. That's a heavy lift, financially and politically, even though the right policy in the long run is to bring as many people as possible under the insurance umbrella. So Lara is trying to attain that goal one step at a time. His current objective is to open the state's insurance exchange, Covered California, to every state resident regardless of immigration status, although only legal residents would be eligible for subsidies. It's a small step that may be more symbolic than substantive, but it's well worth taking. (7/15)

news@JAMA:
Coming Together On Long-Term Care
The daunting potential cost of long-term care is an increasing worry for aging baby boomers, as well as for lawmakers concerned about the growing costs of Medicaid and other government programs—for good reason. Although most older adults in the United States will not experience a lengthy period living in a nursing home or using intensive home supports, an estimated 70% will need some level of long-term supports and services (LTSS). Given that nursing facilities cost on average nearly $90 000 per year and the average yearly cost for home health care tops $45 000, those individuals who need lengthy care face catastrophic financial costs. (Stuart Butler, 7/15)

JAMA:
Cholesterol Lowering In 2015: Still Answering Questions About How And In Whom
For 30 years, it has been well known that lowering blood cholesterol concentrations by a variety of drugs and other approaches reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. With more trials in patient groups with lower risk, including those with relatively low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), it has become clear that atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) can be prevented by lowering LDL-C levels, especially with statin drugs, in broad segments of the general population. However, the critical questions—when, in whom, and how to lower cholesterol—still remain. (Philip Greenland and Michael S. Lauer, 7/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer:
Promoting Healthy Learners Ready For Success
Child Focus Early Learning Programs has long recognized the vital role optimal health plays in overall development. Providing rich learning experiences designed to help children achieve mastery of developmental milestones is integrated in daily programming for children. Ongoing assessments allow monitoring of children’s progress and interventions when developmental concerns arise. When health issues go unidentified and untreated, children struggle to master developmental milestones and will likely struggle in school. (Karen Balon, 7/15)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.